Chitika: Minima

Showing posts with label Minima. Show all posts

Thomas, KK6AHT, was in Washington this week. He and I got together for a beer and a look at his Minima.

I'd seen pictures of it, but it was much more impressive in person. Thomas did a great job on this rig. It is a really nice mixture of digital and analog. I liked the fact that he built the analog portion Manhattan style using MePads. He and I agreed that while it would make sense to produce a PC board for the Arduino/Si570/LCD portion of the rig, builders should be encouraged to do the rest Manhattan style.

Showing true homebrew dedication, Thomas was unhappy with the level of audio output when we turned it on. He started to trouble-shoot right there in the Ruby Tuesday bar!

It turns out that we were in a very Knack-ish location. We were on the site where they created ARPANET.

Thomas very kindly left me with a nice package of Minima digi-parts including the Arduino chip loaded with the software and an SI570. So now I have no excuse.

Thanks Thomas!

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Wow, the Minima presentation by Thomas at Pacificon was really great. I think he had exactly the right tone and tech level for the digitally-savvy California audience. His very open description of the ups and downs of his Minima build will surely lure in some new builders, and will at the same time prepare them for the travails ahead! Great stuff. I like the mention of Pete's "noodling." Thomas obviously gets it. And he obviously has THE KNACK. Thanks Thomas!

Thomas has posted his slides and (MOST IMPORTANT) the audio of his presentation. Just click on the BIG ORANGE play arrow below the slides. You folks will love this:

http://www.sarfata.org/2014/10/Minima-Presentation-at-Pacificon/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Thanks for the kind words Thomas. Be sure to have someone do a video of your presentation.

You truly have The Knack -- proof of this is your reaction to your wife's departure for field research in Senegal: "IT'S SOLDER TIME!" That's the spirit!

Too bad about the chickens, but hey, they died for a good cause...

Dear Bill,

I have been listening to your podcast for about a year now. I think you were right to say that one episode a month is a reasonable limit to avoid listeners getting addicted. At some point in January I was listening to you every morning and every evening in my car, a very serious case of addiction.

This is also the time that Farhan chose to announce the Minima and my wife to go to Senegal for 3 months for a field study (she is doing a PhD in Sociology). I think it took me less than a week to run to the shop, get most of the parts and start melting solder!

In two weeks from today I will present the project and my build at Pacificon. I would really appreciate if you could mention this on your blog because I am sure there are other listeners who will be there and curious for some homebrewing-materials. I hope to delight them!

For your own pleasure there are some pictures and videos on my blog: http://www.sarfata.org/ham/minima/

Pacificon Schedule: http://pacificon.org/ (My talk will be at 10:45 in the Portland room)

My presentation will retrace my journey building the minima. From the first smokes on the crystal filter when I was not even sure how to test it, or what results to look for ; to the amplifier where I am still battling some oscillations (by the way, if you had not talked so much about them, I would never have understood what was going on!).

This project has taught me that radio is a lot less black magic than I thought. It bridged the gap between the maths that I can understand but not really "see" and the sound coming out of the amplifier. It made me realize that once split into stages, a radio is much better understood and testable. Without a doubt, this has been my most ham-enriching experience and I hope to convince more people to build a minima, preferably Manhattan style!

(In this public setting, I will probably not discuss killing chickens to exorcize my amplifier but I thank you for the tip ...)

I got pulled back from homebrewing by life and work this summer but I kept the last three episodes of Soldersmoke on my phone. They were my safety parachute and I listened to them last week on the way home to give me the extra boost that gets me to melt solder or fix bugs until 3 in the morning on a tuesday. I don't think I will ever be able to express my gratitude for all that I have learnt reading the book and listening to you but I would like to start here: Thank you!

Please keep the podcast going! I have really enjoyed the new format with Pete.

73,
thomas
kk6aht / f4hdq

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Steve, VK2SJA, is doing to a Realistic DX-100 what I have been thinking about doing to a Heathkit HW-101. With this kind of encouragement, who could blame me for making a Minima-101? I've been planning on keeping the 6146s and all the final (and perhaps driver) circuitry.

Here is Steve's very nice description of his project thus far:

http://www.hfsignals.org/index.php/UnRealistic_Minima

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Wow, Thomas's page makes me really want to build a Minima. Note the Manhattan style with Rex Harper's Me-Pads. Excellent. Thomas provides a really great stage-by-stage description of the project with the kind of candid descriptions of mistakes that SolderSmoke listeners are so fond of!

http://www.sarfata.org/ham/minima/

Thomas himself has an interesting "international brotherhood" personal history:

http://www.sarfata.org/about.html

Good Evening Bill & fellow Solder-smoke friends,

Well, I’m following the pack. I began gathering items for the Minima Transceiver back in March 14. There had been a good bit of strong back-N-forth discussions on the Minima Blog about what works and what doesn’t work. Some circuit refinements had been agreed upon while other were left to individual preferences. So, I decided to just be silent an learn from the experts. As a result, I did several months of observing before I took the plunge. While my efforts are not nearly as aggressive as others, I decided to forge a much slower path to success.

In my own quirky way of doing things, I kitted each module, measured all the parts statically, laid out the components, and finally built & tested each assembly before going to the next.

As a result, the learning’s were great and the performance of each section equal or better than my expectations.

I went the Manhattan Style this time but, I have purchased several sets of Minima PCBs to use in the future. As I see it, there is a lot more solder melting ahead.

Bill, building radios is NOT DEAD yet. That desire to get back to the golden days of home-brewing still lives on.

At the end of the Memorial Weekend, this is my current Minima progress…

· Construction of all 3 Audio Stages now complete (see photos)

· The Microphone Pre-Amp is now awaiting voice testing

· Audio Amplifier and Final Amplifier have been tested together

· The results of audio testing has been superb for all stages thus far

· 3 complete sets of Micro Relays have been order and I’m now awaiting their arrival

· 24 – various ferrite and powered iron cores arrived several weeks ago, these are the heart of the front-end RX/TX stages

· 100 - 20 Mhz. crystals have arrived and await characterization

· 25 - 8” Male to Male SMA Cables have arrived this weekend, will need to order 15 – 4” Male to Male SMA Cable Assemblies next

· 5 – 12” X 15” Copper Clad Boards have arrived this weekend

· 25 –J310 N-channel J RF Power FETs were ordered and arrived this weekend, these are used in the Mixer Stage

Final Audio Stage

Audio Amplifier Stage

Microphone Pre-Amplifier Stage (see microphone connector mounted at rear)

I’m ready to begin kitting the Side Tone Oscillator and RX/TX Relay Stages.

The largest and most intense modules are yet to be tackled.

The Bi-Directional Amplifier has 34 parts alone. So far I have installed over 40 parts in the three modules I’ve completed…

I realize it is just a start but, I’m motivated to see this one project through to completion.

73’s & Happy Soldering

Harv -=WA3EIB=-

Albuquerque, NM.

Nice looking DDS function generator Harv! Glad to see the HT-37 in the background. (And it appears well protected -- is that some sort of digital shielding to protect it from the bits and bytes?) The eraser buttons are a nice touch. Good luck with the Minima!

Hi Bill,

Well I have nearly completed my DDS Function Generator as I prepare to construct the Minima.

The Function Generator was a necessity for the bench so I can tackle Tweaking and Troubleshooting my work.

It is housed an aluminum box and completely self-contained.

My objective was to have the choice, to either lay the unit flat on the work surface or stand it on a shelf for easy reading while seated.

The Generator has both a DDS and HF-ECG output.

The buttons are fashioned from White Pencil Erasers since finding proper buttons for the membrane keypad beneath was difficult.

I have obtained a set of Farhan’s Boards for the Minima but will begin my effort with a Manhattan Style Construction so I can perfect my choice of parts.

The soldering iron is heating and I’m ready for a new and exciting challenge.

Happy Solder Melting Everyone!

Harv -=WA3EIB=-

Albq., NM.

An RF amplifier inspired by a quest for an AF replacement for the LM386. I like it! Check it out:

http://www.hfsignals.org/index.php/RF386

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Wow, Mark didn't waste any time in building his Minima. FB OM. His web site has a lot of good info on this project: http://g0mgx.blogspot.co.uk/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Chitika

"Two guys and a Minima walk into a bar..."

Thomas KK6AHT's Pacificon Minima Presentation: Noodling! And Maxima Inspiration!

Don't miss Thomas and his Minima at Pacificon!

VK2SJA's Minima in a Realistic DX-100 Case

Thomas's Magnificent Minima

Harv's Minima

Harv's DDS Function Generator

Farhan's RM386 RF Amplifier

G0MGX's Minima

AHMED HASSAN MOHAMMED

Popular Posts